/ world today news/ The president of Russia was removed from power as a result of a military coup, but a NATO landing intervened in history – four seals and the crew of one of the US spy submarines saved the president from a coup and the world from a nuclear war. This is the plot of the movie “Hunter Killer”, which was banned in Ukraine and almost banned in Russia. Did you have to?
Russia. Arctic. A Russian Navy Shark-class submarine is slowly crawling along the bottom of the Barents Sea. A US Navy Hunter-Killer-class submarine (hence the name of the film) creeps up on it a stone’s throw away. A sudden explosion destroys the Russian court. While the crew of the American fears that they and their espionage will be forced upon them as a pretext for war, a second strike by an unknown malefactor sinks the uninvited guests.
USA. The Pentagon. Alarm. “The Russians disgraced us in Syria and continue to oppose us in Crimea”, and now they are preparing to test a miracle weapon on the Kola Peninsula, where the President of Russia Zakharin has already flown in the company of the Minister of Defense Durov”. It is proposed to parachute four harbor seals onto the peninsula to observe the nuclear head of state with binoculars.
After marching through the Russian forests with guns on their shoulders, the SEALs see (not through binoculars, but through the front sight) how the Minister of Defense Durov conducts a military coup and arrests the Commander-in-Chief. An order has been given: from the city of Polarniy, the base of the Russian Northern Fleet, President Zakharin is to be evacuated with the submarine “Arkansas”, which was earlier sent to the internal waters of Russia to clarify the fate of the spy submarine.
Much of the tape is devoted to the characters shooting each other, hanging out nicely on submarines, and bravely serving two very different fatherlands. But the average viewer will see nothing of what he had the right to count on – neither national humiliation nor Russophobia.
Again, no Russophobia. Unless, of course, one omits the fact that Russia’s defense minister is a megalomaniac admiral, from whom it is never understood what he wants – to seize power in order to start World War III or to start World War III in order to take power Moreover, the computer graphics do not foresee birds in the sky or fish in the sea, and we might think that there is no life in Mordor, and yet there is an army and a navy, such a navy that we can be proud of.
There is a sense that the Northern Group of the Navy is even flattering him (not out of love for all things Russian, of course, but because the geopolitical enemy needs to look impressive) – and the ships at sea and their base on land. Since the collapse of the USSR, the real city of Polarniy has shrunk by about a third and now stares blankly at the few who have been given a pass to enter. If it is necessary to describe devastation and darkness, they could draw it from realities (albeit classified), but something completely different is needed – just a plot for an action-only movie.
All political considerations aside, “Hunter Killer” is a simple action movie with a modest budget and even more modest profits. Gary Oldman’s face on the posters is nothing more than a publicity stunt (the Hollywood classic plays a rather cameo role, even if he is the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which is the American equivalent of the head of the General Staff). Instead of Russia, it can be Venezuela or any other Nicaragua – as in the distant 80s of the last century, when it was the heyday of action. But now the Americans are more interested in Russia (more so in the last quarter of a century), and in the case of Russia the main question is “who launches the missile first”, so the place of action is Russia, but the waiting bears, balalaikas and KGB will be disappointed.
At the same time, the film team of “Hunter Killer” is obviously trying not to offend anyone. This is the reason for the negro boatswain, the Asian navigator, and the fact that the Pentagon’s smartest person is a woman, and if it weren’t for her and the president (also a woman), the Pentagon hawks would unleash a nuclear war on themselves and us. ,
The Russian weapon leads to destruction and death, as befits it, the weapon. Russian soldiers die but do not surrender. The Russian FSO demonstrates the wonders of heroism and self-sacrifice. And Russian President Zakharin, despite playing the role of the damsel in distress, behaves superbly – he is able to shoot and swim under the waters of the Kola Bay, bleeding profusely. Not a president, but a whole cyborg.
But Minister Medinski, I wonder what he meant when he said the film was “extremely stupid”?
Seriously, experts in military science and technology will certainly find a lot of errors, fantasies and violations of the laws of physics – and even be able to describe all this in a funny way. Russia’s image has been built more diligently than usual. And the forests in the film are suspiciously Russian and the surroundings concrete, low ceilings, light wooden panels – they are somehow recognizable and where necessary – their own. The film has invited those Russians who live in Hollywood, dreamed of something big, but achieved it. It is true that the most important role – that of the Russian captain Andropov was given to the Swede Rolf Nykvist, who unfortunately is now deceased.
The best compliment to the film is the ban on broadcasting in Ukraine, since it is (and this is official) “showing the power of the Russian army and secret services”, and local propaganda vigilantly preserves in the inhabitants the belief that the heroic Cossack chivalry not only, that he can easily return Donbass and Crimea, but even then he will reach Moscow in four days. And it would definitely get there if it weren’t for the centuries-old Ukrainian love of peace
Rumors about a possible ban of “Hunter Killer” are also circulating in Russia. These rumors (along with conspiracy theories) are perhaps the biggest reason for the increased attention to mediocre action
“Hunter Hiller company was not given a certificate for theatrical release due to the absence of a mark that the film was transferred to the State Film Fund of Russia for permanent storage. According to our data, the company delivered a disc with the film to the Fund on September 24, but the copy is not of good quality,” the press service of the Ministry of Culture wrote.
That may be true, but in the end, a movie about a military coup in the depths of the Russian government was released a week later than planned, and no one believes in coincidences. For some, it’s already a story of how no one wanted to take responsibility, so permission was sought from somewhere higher up. For others, it’s a ploy by distributors who have tried to further advertise the product by focusing on poor quality copy. In any case, there are no objective reasons for any limitation of the Russians’ right to look at Defense Minister Durov – an admiral wearing camouflage.
But there are subjective ones. The action is not given to the descendants of Pushkin. Allegedly, the science of this is known: explosions should be beautiful, and you should feel anxious when the music is also anxious. On the other hand, we know how to make rockets and shoot accurate weapons in the conditions of real combat, but we can’t shoot for it. And if sometimes something decent turns out in Russian conditions, then it ceases to be action, but a military drama or a “film about the Great Patriotic War”, which is already a separate genre.
For South African director Donovan Marsh, “Hunter Killer” is an exam and an entrance ticket to the American dream. Shooting a medium-budget genre film (usually fantasy or action and less often a horror film), guest workers go through Hollywood as a kind of compulsory service until they are given the right to their own opinion. That’s why Marsh is trying. From a genre perspective, it succeeds.
Since the narrative is divided into three parallel parts (the submarine “Arkansas”, the landing of the seals and the hysteria in the Pentagon), the film maintains a high level of dynamics and tension almost until the end credits, it is not boring to watch what is going on. But with all the plot jumps, Marsh still manages to retain the main character element that is a must for any action movie. The captain of the “Arkansas” (Gerard Butler) walks around the wheelhouse like King Leonidas, but no longer shouts, but hums, and is not funny in his over-positivity, but convincing, although the possibility of the actor Butler serving in a submarine is doubtful – such a sissy it can hardly fit through any hatch.
Refusing contact with the intellect, “Hunter Killer” immediately grabs the viewer by the emotions and holds them tightly, forcing them to play by its rules. When disturbing music plays – we get really worried, when the sniper’s bullet takes the bad guy’s head off, you think “Wow!”, and when the sniper is killed in return, you feel sad.
The epaulettes in the action genre exist only to distinguish “our” from “foreign”, besides, “our” is always good, despite the passport.
Comrade Suslov would not allow such political short-sightedness, but the comrade is no longer there, and the armed contingent of Russia is in Syria and Crimea is ours, and although theoretically, but still the nuclear war between Russia and the USA is discussed in the media at least once monthly.
Not everyone will like that Russians and Americans in movie theaters scream and mourn at the same places in the script, because the dying noble hero is a soldier of the aggressive NATO and his head is taken off by the bullet of a Russian soldier.
Translation: V.Sergeev
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